The Last of the Twenty: Broken Pawns

Chapter 25

Mark walked into their small home to find Alex sitting quietly in the living room, staring out thoughtfully at the lake. A window had been left open enough to allow a gust of wind to blow a stack of papers and bills off the end table, scattering them around the room. One of the papers blew into Alex's lap, but he took no notice, instead remaining focused on the rippling water, his eyes occasionally pulsing with white light.

"You alright?" Mark asked, sitting down next to him.

"Just thinking, going through a lot today." Alex said quietly.

"Pain?"

Alex nodded. "Yea, but not as bad as it has been. Got hungry too, I think I ate at least two large pizzas by myself."

Mark laughed, "That's too be expected, the binding held back a lot of who you are, including physical strength. It's just your human body's way of fueling up as it gets stronger. Curse of being stuck half human, shouldn't last."

"Half human you say. What's the other half?" Alex asked, finally turning from the lake.

Mark sighed, "You'll know soon enough, once your memories are back."

Alex looked at Mark, frustration showing through his attempts remain calm. "Why can't you just tell me now? Why all the secrecy?"

Mark sat up in his chair, his expression as serious as Alex had ever seen. "Our true minds have a way of breaking themselves out of binding spells early. The binding traps your true self inside a human body, rendering you fully human for a time. It represses your abilities, doesn't allow what's inside to effect what's outside. That's why you can heal so quickly, why you're so strong and fast, but it's just the beginning. There is so much more, it'll just take time to come out."

"Why did it break early? What set it off?" Alex asked.

Mark shrugged, "Could have been a few things. When a bound soul begins to realize what it is, or once it stumbles across information or memories from lives before the binding, it will fight its way out long before the spell has a chance to wear off naturally. That's where the pain comes from, it's from breaking through chains and walls that aren't meant to be broken. I hold information back because breaking through too much can be dangerous, even for us. Just because you can break through chains doesn't mean you should. Those chains can do serious damage while they're being broken."

Alex nodded, calming a little. "Is that why you won't tell me why I'm drawn to Nadia? Why I can sense her life force? Her soul? Who is she to me? Why do I feel like I have to find her?"

Mark's expression turned dark at the mention of her name. He sat back, forcing himself to keep his composure. "Because she's dangerous. She's the reason you were bound in the first place, to keep you from committing the very sin that cursed us all for a second time. You had to be protected from yourself. There was no other choice..."

Alex sat back angrily, focusing on the lake once more. Mark watched Alex's eyes pulse with light, knowing he wasn't satisfied with the answer. Things were becoming dangerous again, Alex was too close to the edge, and now Mark no longer had the one person who could help to bind Alex once more if it became necessary. Why had the binding repressed his own senses? Had he been able to sense who she was sooner, he could have ended this long ago. Would he have to do it? Would he have to commit the one act he feared the most just to end this once and for all. The tall man's words rang in his mind, tempting him.

"That's not all." Alex said, interrupting Mark's thoughts.

"What's not all?" Mark asked.

"I did something today, something I don't understand. Somehow I went from here to town in a single step. I can't begin to describe what happened, just that it was nothing but blackness in between. Is this something I was able to do before? Leave one spot and arrive at another miles away?"

Mark's face went pale. There was only one way Alex could have done what he described, and that meant the binding was breaking faster than he thought. "You walked between the worlds..." he whispered, "But that's not possible, at least not yet, not unless..."

"Not unless what?" Alex urged.

Mark pulled a cigar out of his pocket, tapping it thoughtfully on the edge of the chair. "The one that bound you had a power to walk between the worlds, a space halfway between the physical world and the spiritual one. When humans die and come back to life, they describe a light at the end of a long tunnel. Well, that tunnel is that space, half physical half spiritual. In that place time and space don't exist. Someone who can walk into it can use it to travel to wherever, and whenever, they want instantly. When you were bound you accidently inherited that ability, but it wouldn't have taken effect until either the binding broke fully or..."

"Or what?" Alex asked.

Mark lit his cigar, his face somber. "Or the onethat gave you that power is dead."